STORM Imogen battered Hampshire today as gale-force winds brought down trees and powerlines and caused powercuts for residents and businesses.

Heavy rainfall resulted in flood warnings and roads were blocked by falling trees and debris.

Thunder and lightning last night was followed by winds of more than 50mph with a gust of more than 90mph recorded near The Needles, on the Isle of Wight, prompting the Met Office and Hampshire Police to warn residents to be safe.

A motorcyclist crashed into a fallen tree at about 7am on Hill Lane, Southampton, and rescue teams were called after a trampoline flew threw the air and landed on the roof of a house.

Regarding the crash, a police spokeswoman said: "We were called at 6.03am to reports that a tree had come down. It covered both sides of the road.

“A motorcyclist then crashed into it but the motorcyclist was fine.

“We called highways to help with the tree. The road was clear at 7.40am.”

The trampoline was blown across two gardens in Gosport before landing upright on a roof on Gale Moor Avenue.

No-one was injured during the incident and watch manager Rob Dellow, of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, admitted it was one of the most unusual rescues he had been a part of.

He said: "I have been in the fire brigade for 26 years and never been called to a job like that before.

“It had blown across two gardens and landed right side up on a conservatory roof outside a young girl’s bedroom window.

“Her parents were asleep and the daughter woke them up saying ‘mum, dad, there’s a trampoline on the roof’.

“It took about 30 to 40 minutes to come up with a plan get the trampoline down. We were worried that it would fly off again.”

Later in the day residents in Netley Common, Southampton, suffered from power cuts, and temporary outages caused problems for businesses including First Bus in the city centre.

Workmen at the new WestQuay Watermark development in Southampton scrambled to rescue hoardings at the new site after they were blown down by the wind.